GLOSSARY OF TERMS
SeaBat 8160
Operator‟s Manual
Page 116
October 6, 2011
Version 5
APPENDIX I GLOSSARY OF TERMS
The following terms are used frequently in this manual and are defined here for
your convenience:
Term
Definition
Absorption
The removal of energy from a sonar beam as it propagates
through the water. Absorption is one of the factors in
limiting the range of a sonar system underwater. For lower
side scan sonar frequencies, the chemical relaxation of
magnesium sulfate in sea water is a major factor in
absorption. The higher frequencies are more affected by
the physics of shear and viscosity.
AC
Alternating Current
Array
Piezoelectric Ceramic elements arranged in a
series/parallel configuration. An array can be designed for
either transmitting (projector) or receiving (hydrophone).
Bathymetry
The measurement of the depths of oceans, seas or other
large bodies of water, typically using narrow swath
acoustic systems. Some modern side scan type of sonar
systems use two transducers per side to produce
bathymetric, data along with wide area imaging. These
systems, although producing both types of data, leave
much to be desired when compared with systems
dedicated to either one or the other. Co-registered side
scan and bathymetric data from a single instrument is a
goal of many sonar designers.
Beam Width
The distance between two opposite sides of a beam at a
specific range from its source. Beam width widens with
distance from the transducer array. Horizontal beam width
determines the transverse resolution (the minimum
distance between two objects parallel to the line of travel
that will be displayed as two separate objects in the data)
of a sonar system.
Big-Endian
A computer architecture in which, within a given multi-byte
numeric representation, the most significant byte has the
lowest address (the
word is stored „big-end-first‟).
BITE
Built-In Test Environment
CPU
Central Processing Unit - the processor or micro-processor
in a computer
CTD
Salinity Temperature and Depth sensor
DAC
Digital-to-Analog Converter
DC
Direct Current
